In the gloomy gorge where Dick's horse had taken refuge the precipices were so steep that many avalanches had occurred, as was evident from the mounds of heaped snow that lay at the foot of most of them.

Neither stones nor trees were carried down here, however, for the cliffs were nearly perpendicular, and the snow slipping over their edges had fallen on the grass below.
Such an avalanche was now about to take place, and it was this that caused Joe to utter his cry of alarm and warning.
Henri and the horse were directly under the cliff over which it was about to be hurled, the latter close to the wall of rock, the other at some distance away from it.
Joe cried again, "Back, Henri! back _vite_!" when the mass _flowed over_ and fell with a roar like prolonged thunder.

Henri sprang back in time to save his life, though he was knocked down and almost stunned; but poor Charlie was completely buried under the avalanche, which now presented the appearance of a _hill_ of snow.
The instant Henri recovered sufficiently, Joe and he mounted their horses and galloped back to the camp as fast as possible.
Meanwhile, another spectator stepped forward upon the scene they had left, and surveyed the snow hill with a critical eye.

This was no less than a grizzly bear, which had, unobserved, been a spectator, and which immediately proceeded to dig into the mound, with the purpose, no doubt, of disentombing the carcass of the horse for purposes of his own.
While he was thus actively engaged the two hunters reached the camp, where they found that Pierre and his party had just arrived.

The men sent out in search of them had scarcely advanced a mile when they found them trudging back to the camp in a very disconsolate manner.
But all their sorrows were put to flight on hearing of the curious way in which the horses had been returned to them with interest.
Scarcely had Dick Varley, however, congratulated himself on the recovery of his gallant steed, when he was thrown into despair by the sudden arrival of Joe with the tidings of the catastrophe we have just related.
Of course there was a general rush to the rescue.